


Reflections

by angelslaugh



Series: Reflecting the Sun [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, Naruto
Genre: Fem!Harry, Harry is Lal, Multi, Naruto is Skull, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, Slow Burn Romance, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, because that's always a thing, genderfluid!naruto, like seriously i tried to put it in the last part but it didn't work out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-07-27 11:29:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16218113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelslaugh/pseuds/angelslaugh
Summary: Past: Higurashi Kagome attempts to fight a demon with none other than Skull helping.Present: Reborn trains Tsuna.Future: Uncertain.(Or, where Skull goes to the past while Reborn trains Tsuna.)





	1. Chapter 1

“We need to protect ourselves.”

The statement was whispered by Lal Mirch, whose glowing pacifier lit an ethereal orange.

The rest of the Arcobaleno curse-bearers agreed in quiet voices.

Before Checkerface even thought to check and make sure the group was still there, inside the Giglio Nero mansion, they scattered to different parts of Italy.

Reborn – back to his job as a hitman, proving that even as a baby he was still a badass.

Lal – to a spying position in the Vongola; mostly so she could keep tabs on the others.

Colonello – back to COMSUBIN.

Fon – the triads. None would dare touch him there.

Viper – to the Vongola, changing her name in the process.

Verde – a lab in Florence.

And Skull?

He left the continent altogether, moving around with the circus before it changed. _He_ happened to settle in a quiet town called Namimori.

Well… quiet before his lovely granddaughter found him.

~:~

Kagome wrinkled her nose. “Looking through all this crap isn’t helping much.”

“Be respectful! It’s your father’s belongings,” her grandfather chastised. Kagome pulled out an envelope.

“Yeah,” Kagome drawled, opening it. “My father’s belongings.”

A pin lay in it; Kagome took it out. The bell on the end of it rang.

She glanced at her grandfather, who was unboxing supposedly ancient items. Kagome took out the letter, expecting it to be a ‘dear love’ letter.

It wasn’t.

_Hikari,_

_I didn’t know until recently that you’d been born. I have one request: if your mother gave you the pin with the bell on it, please give your firstborn daughter this pin._

_If you don’t have a daughter, give it to their descendant. It’s important. They will be in danger if they don’t – even if you don’t believe me. Your firstborn will not be able to control her powers. This is a way to do so._

_I regret that I have not been in your life. In truth it’s best that I stay away – if I come into your life, you will run the risk of dying in unspeakably horrible ways._

_I’m not kidding._

_Your father Skull_

Kagome arched an eyebrow.

~:~

Kagome spent three weeks finding her father’s family, then tracing her father’s father through his name. Not many people had the name _Skull_ and matched the description of her estranged grandma’s baby daddy.

“Mama, is there a way I could go to Namimori?”

Mrs. Higurashi froze. “What?” She seemed genuinely shocked at Kagome’s request.

“I was helping Grandfather sort through some of Dad’s things,” Kagome said, glancing up at her mother’s surprised face. “I found a letter from our grandfather on Dad’s side. I wanted to meet him – luckily, he was easy to find.”

Mrs. Higurashi swallowed. “I’ll have to think on it,” she said hesitantly. “You do have finals to study for, and an entrance exam.”

“True,” Kagome replied. “I just…” Kagome set her fork down. “I can’t concentrate because I left Inuyasha and everyone else to die five hundred years in the past.”

Her words brought back the tension.

“If I can find something else, something to take my mind off of everything… I think I can take my finals and my entrance exam without worrying about them.”

There was a silence.

Kagome set her fork down and left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Skull de Mort woke up when his phone started ringing viciously.

“Go die in a hole,” he groaned. “Because it’s not noon yet.”

_“Are you Skull de Mort?”_

Skull sighed. Nobody should’ve known his cell phone number.

“Look, if you’re calling to tell me you’re going to end me, I get a lot of death –“

“ _My name is Higurashi Kagome,”_ the woman on the other end said. Skull froze. _“You left a pin with a bell with my father?”_

Skull sat up. Living in Namimori had its ups and downs – point was, how the hell had this girl found him?

“I did,” he said cautiously. “Look, the letter –“

“ _The letter said some strange things, yes. But those things – I need help.”_ The woman on the other end sounded tired. _“It’s a long story, and one best told in person. I’d like to meet, if it’s possible?”_

Skull sighed. “Sure. Want me to come over there? I’d rather meet where there’s people around.”

A laugh echoed down the line. _“Higurashi shrine, Tokyo. I’ll have to tell my mother you’re coming.”_

“Alright, I’ll see ya later.”

The line disconnected.

Skull sighed. He’d have a lot of explaining to do – some of which meant he’d have to explain why he turned into a child on occasion, and why he had a giant octopus for a companion.

Oh, and how he was still _young._

Well. No time like the present.

He left his house, nodded to Sawada Nana. His giant octopus buddy, Oodaku, was already in the car; Skull was not surprised.

“Hey, Skull-san! Can you give Tsu-kun a ride to school?”

“Sure!” Skull smiled at Nana. “I’ll probably be back late. Like, not in time to give him a ride home.”

“Ah, okay! His tutor will be joining you, then!”

“Ah, his tu –“

Skull’s sentence died as soon as he saw Reborn.

_Oh, fuck._

“-tor,” Skull finished, tilting his head and mentally thanking Inari he had blue hair and blue eyes. “Is that child a tutor?”

Reborn tilted his hat and didn’t act like a child.

“Is that a giant octopus in your car?” Reborn parroted.

 _Shit._ “Yes, she is!” Skull turned his eyes to his pride and joy. “My beautiful, _beautiful_ Karin!”

Time to bullshit his way through!

He forgot about his pacifier.

~:~

Kagome heard her mama arguing with her grandfather.

_“Father, if Kagome fails –“_

_“If Kagome doesn’t go, she’ll never get over what happened to Inuyasha,”_ her grandfather reasoned.

Kagome took a deep breath and left the note on her bedside table.

_Mom,_

_Heading to meet Skull. I have my phone with me. Please yell at me when I get back. Will text when able._

_Kagome_

She climbed out the window and walked to the front of the shrine, her bulging backpack on her back.

A car was parked at the end of the steps. The driver’s side opened. Out stepped a young man with blue hair, shades on his eyes. Kagome arched an eyebrow.

Kagome hesitated.

If this was –

The driver’s side door slammed shut, the man going towards the passenger’s side and opening it.

Kagome’s jaw dropped as a giant octopus slid out of the car. The blue-haired man stepped towards Kagome.

“It’s a long story,” the man began, “but I’m Skull de Mort. I assume you’re Hikari’s daughter?”

Kagome just stared for a moment. “Um.” If this was really him –

“I’m assuming you’re shocked and stunned,” Skull pulled his sunglasses down and winked. “But if you’ve done your research, I can assure you, I _was_ married to a Chinese woman by the name of Xia-He, I do have an adopted daughter named Aurore, and yes! I am actually over fifty years old.” Skull made a face. “Maybe sixty. I was almost twenty and it _has_ been about thirty… no, no. It’s only been about fifty years… Gods above I’m old!” He grinned at her.

Kagome slumped. “I still don’t know if you’re telling the –“

“The bell is clear,” Skull interrupted, startling Kagome. “It’s actually an _omamori,_ a protective charm. Shion, the one who gave it to me… She asked me, in a roundabout way, to give her gifts to my firstborn daughter. The two daughters I had before wouldn’t have fit any criteria; you do.”

“But – you’re so _young!”_

The man hesitated, then reached into his shirt and brought out…

…a pacifier.

It was colored purple.

“This is why,” he admitted. “It’s also why I have Oodaku to hang out with. Occasionally I turn into a baby.”

Smoke appeared, covering the man. Oodaku the octopus wrapped its tentacles around a baby who… Oh, _geez._ This guy wasn’t lying.

~:~

Skull hissed in pain as he pulled his hand back from the pan abruptly.

“Dammit. I’m too impatient.”

He wrung his hand out briefly. His granddaughter – and wasn’t _that_ just strange to think about? Skull was a _grandfather._

Well, not like he wasn’t before. Problem was, he _still_ hadn’t found his grandkids. Not that he thought Sofia was wrong – he’d been there, at the times and places and he hadn’t found them. From what he could tell, Sofia had been correct before she’d told him about it. After telling him about it, he suspected Luce having a part in having his grandchildren _removed_ from the locations Sofia had told him.

Kagome looked up in concern at his burn. “Are you all right?”

She grabbed his hand. He smirked at her as she stared at the umblemished hand.

“How in the world?”

“It’s… A bit more complicated,” he admitted to her. “This…” He waved around her in general. “Is complicated. It’s going to sound insane, stupid – whatever you want to call it. I think you should eat first, because it _is_ still a long story.”

Kagome nodded, watching him like a hawk as he carefully cut the bread. Pumpkin spice bread, a bread that was strangely popular in October. He always wondered why. Then again, he also wondered why people dressed up in weird costumes at the end of October…

The two ate in awkward silence.

“Alright.” Skull brushed his hands off. “Truth is, you got that pin handed down to you because of a young woman’s wish. That woman? Well… Her name was Shion, and she was the priestess of the Land of Ogres…”

He told her. Not mincing any words. He told her the facts about Shion’s death, why he’d come from his own place via a pocket mirror, and why he was cursed right then.

Kagome, surprisingly, took it all in stride.

Her questions weren’t stupid, like _why the hell did you join the mafia?_ Or _why are you telling me about the mafia if you could get arrested by weird baby police?_

(He and the Vindice hated Checkerface. Bermuda cut him some slack, given that Skull was from another world and was probably the one person [not including Lal] who could outrun the Vindice for the rest of eternity, sooo…)

They went to bed not long after that, too.

It was the morning that Skull was looking forward to.

Especially as Kagome held the pin out to him.

“Teach me,” she requested with the eyes of someone who had _finally_ found something they would work hard at. “Teach me to wield the power of Shion!”

Skull smiled. “I can’t.” Kagome looked confused and opened her mouth. “I _literally can’t,_ Kagome. I’m not a priestess… But.” He raised a finger. “I can help you by teaching you how to go to her.”

Kagome nodded. “ _Please,”_ she requested again. “I…” She clenched her fist. “There is a reason I need to learn.”

Skull arched a brow.

“Elaborate.”

“Do you believe in reincarnation?”

Kagome’s scared look made him choke on his hot cocoa.

“Holy shit, it’s true in this world, too?” Skull pointed to himself. “I’m the reincarnated grandson of the bitch leader of chakra!”

“Oh.” Kagome winced. He’d told her of Kaguya, just… not everything. “Well, I’m the reincarnated priestess Kikyo, who happens to be the one person who can purify the shards of the Shikon Jewel.”

She placed her hand on top of her collarbone – on top of something under her shirt.

“Okay,” Skull said when she didn’t continue. “What’s special about the jewel?”

“It grants any wish,” Kagome said after a moment, frowning at him. “If you wanted ultimate power…”

“Oh. So _that’s_ what’s whispering in my ears.” Skull had heard it. Just the muted tones of silky promises. “Yeah, no, I _so_ don’t want it. I say a wish, then what? Universe would _explode_ or some shit like that, y’know? Power has a price, after all. Wishes are the most dangerous things one could make.” A haunted look passed over Skull’s face as he recalled that one time Tobi put him and Sakura in the Limited Tsukuyomi. “Other than burned brownies.”

Kagome blinked. “Oh. Okay. So… back to my point. I left my friends to face a yokai that was responsible for Kikyo’s death – a demon named Naraku. Thing is… Naraku lived five hundred years ago.”

Skull paused, wrapping his mind around that.

“Oh. Cool! Does that mean we get to travel to the past?”

Kagome stared at him again.

“ _Why the hell are you so chill about time travel?!”_

“Oh, I’ve done it before,” waved Skull. “Something to do with my father, who I didn’t know was my father, a ruined city and a puppet master.” Skull smiled and wiggled his eyebrows. “I think there was a princess involved, too!”

“Did you sleep with _her?”_ Kagome dryly questioned.

“Nah, I was fifteen and a little less likely to sleep around,” Skull said cheerfully. “Not to mention, _puppet master._ Anyway! I’ll teach you how to get in touch with Shion.” His face became completely serious. “I won’t allow you to slack, got it? I know you have finals coming up, I’ll get you back home for those, and I’ll let you study here. But, if you want training, this is going to be the _hardest_ time of your life. Am I clear?”

He wasn’t joking. Kagome set her jaw.

“Yes,” she said, enunciating clearly. “I will follow your teachings, sensei.”

“Good.” Skull smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

Reborn used his skills to slip into Skull’s home.

Of course it was Skull, though! Nobody had a giant octopus, much less train them like Skull had the damn thing trained!

Reborn found the office rather quickly. The man was clever, adapting with this world – books instead of scrolls, for one. Rifling through it, Reborn found what he was looking for. A journal.

Reborn knew he had a lot of time. Skull wasn’t going to come up for anything – not when his ‘secret’ underground training center had everything he needed. The cursed child settled into his chair to read through the lackey’s life, disregarding any personal want Skull had.

Not that Skull was much of a _lackey._ Reborn still called him that to keep Checkerface in the dark when Skull contacted them – not that Skull did it often. At least this was confirmation it was really just a clone of the lackey’s that was constantly attacking Mafia Land.

Eh, he’d drag Tsuna there when it came time.

Reborn blinked. “Huh. So it’s just the fact he has chakra that allows him to retain adult form. Interesting.”

Those large black eyes glittered. Reborn smirked, allowing the ghost of his Flames to saturate the room. The lackey wouldn’t be surprised; Reborn had been the first to find him before.

This time, he didn’t intend to let the lackey slip from his notice. Doing that once before led Colonello to believe the lackey went to a famiglia that _nobody_ liked. Terrorizing Mafia Land was _juvenile._

Though, considering just who Reborn was thinking about… The lackey was just a juvenile being.

Reborn noticed Tsuna coming home and left. Dino was arriving soon; he couldn’t let his idiot student meet his hopeless one.

~:~

Kagome gritted her teeth, feeling for the powers inside of her. Sensei was adamant it was there, and that all the running she’d been forced to do was a way of forcing the power to the surface. Her miko powers, locked down by her blocked access to the well were supposedly still inside of her.

She held the pin in her grasp.

Three exhausting weeks, and all she had to show for it was her ability to muster enough rage at her grandfather. _How was this going to work?_

She grunted in frustration and threw the damn pin away.

The cool night air greeted her senses as she opened her eyes. She stared at the glowing pink pin.

“How am I supposed to _connect_ with a dead person?” She stood and walked over to it, snatching it up.

Just like that, she was standing in an area with blue lights.

“There she is!”

She stared at the woman in front of her, the blonde man with facial markings on his face grinning next to her.

“Who…?” she questioned, frowning.

“Naruto!” Her grandfather winked at her. “Or Skull, as ya know me.”

“I am the Priestess Shion.” Shion bowed her head. “Thank you for being Naruto’s grandchild. He needs someone mature in life.”

Naruto gave her the finger. Shion threw him a withering look.

~:~

“I do not like your neighbors.”

Tsuna froze.

“Especially the girl. She is…”

Tsuna sweatdropped as Reborn drank some coffee without finishing. Tsuna got it! The new girl living with Octopus Man was weird.

 _Very_ weird.

…he’d still rather be around her than Haru, to be perfectly honest. Haru was _strange._ Weird was good, strange was not. Weird was walking around after dark and talking to nobody in particular wearing a priestess outfit. Strange was… _Haru._

“I like her,” Tsuna mumbled, ducking his eyes – before narrowing them and glaring at Reborn’s calculating look. “ _No,”_ he said, before he could really think about it.

Dino paused, fork halfway to his mouth, shock on his face.

“No?” Reborn cocked his head.

“She’s _not_ becoming involved in this.” Something hissed at him that it wasn’t _time_ for her to be involved. That he needed to be _firm_ on this to Reborn.

“Why not?”

“It’s not time,” Tsuna said, his voice flat. He didn’t know his eyes were orange, flickering with pure Sky Flames. He didn’t feel the seal start to crack.

“Hmm.” Reborn looked… _pleased._ “Well, idiot Dino, he’s come a lot further than you.”

Dino looked positively delighted. “That’s good! Tsuna-kun can teach _me_ to do that, then!”

Reborn gave Dino a _Look._

“Don’t you even try it.” Reborn returned his attention to Tsuna. “Nevertheless, it’s time I bring in a seal expert. Your seal still isn’t gone yet.”

“I thought you said Shamal-san was going to help him?” Dino looked confused.

“Ah, yes. However.” Reborn sipped his coffee. “Your next-door neighbor knows seals; if he can break it, then you hopefully won’t die.”

“Wait – who’s the sealmaster?! And _hopefully?!”_

“The owner of Oodaku.”

“OCTOPUS MAN IS A MAFIA MAN?!”

“That _octopus man_ happens to be Skull de Mort.”

Tsuna was blank on the name, though it did sound famili –

“Also known as the man that attacked us at Mafia Land.”

Tsuna gaped wordlessly for a moment.

“ _WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!”_


	4. Chapter 4

Skull winced at the scream. He sighed, internally.

Kagome had a… _grip_ on her powers. Shion would hopefully teach her more skills.

He wasn’t, however, going to do what Reborn wanted him to. No matter how good it felt to bask in his office as it was now, saturated with the Sun Flames that were familiar to him –

He wasn’t an expert on seals. That was left to Nagato and his children back in the Elemental Countries; Naruto had only rudimentary sealing prowess.

Skull reluctantly left the room, deciding to go outside for a smoke. He’d recently began to do so, the stress of… _Everything_ starting to weigh down on him. He knew it was terrible – Kurama’s occasional griping made him annoyed; he wasn’t going to stop, though. Cigarettes were the only soothing part of his day.

Skull sat on his back porch, breathing out through half-lidded eyes. The sun was beginning to descend, the twilight hour fading into dusk.

He breathed in and out, putting the heel of his hand into his forehead.

“That will kill you, Naruto.”

Skull didn’t respond. He’d begun to hallucinate, too! Symptoms of his mind being over-stressed. Gee, he didn’t know what it could be – the presence of nine demons being tethered to this world by him, the curse he was under, the fact he wasn’t in his own world… nah, he didn’t know what it could be.

“C’mon, kid!” Hands put themselves on his shoulders. “You can’t be mopey all –“

“You’re dead. Don’t call me _kid.”_

“But that’s what ya are to me, _kid!_ I’m forever young.”

Green peeked in the corner of his eyes.

“Ryuuzetsu…” Skull took another drag of his cigarette and closed his eyes. “Not now.”

Ryuuzetsu was suddenly in his face. “I’m _serious!”_ Ryuuzetsu looked _very_ serious. “Stop _moping!”_

She jabbed a mostly bandaged hand to poke him in the forehead.

It felt like a flick. A wet flick from something – like a tentacle. _Euugh._

Skull reeled back, blinking rapidly. Ryuuzetsu’s form vanished; Oodaku sat in front of him.

The tentacle flicked his forehead again.

“Stop it,” Skull said – freezing as the echo of familiar Flames filled the air.

“You’ve grown complacent, lackey.”

Skull turned, opening his mouth. “Rebo –“

Skull fell back, a bullet wound in his head.

Reborn’s gun transformed back into a chameleon.

~:~

Skull blinked awake hazily.

“ _Dammit, Reborn!”_ He lunged off the couch – tripping and crashing down onto the ground. His _child_ form!

“At least you came back,” Reborn shrugged. “I owed you that for not telling us where you went.”

“I have had clones in Italy that could’ve told you I left the country,” Skull snapped. “They haven’t gone away.”

His pacifier glowed, just as Reborn’s was.

“One of your clones was pathetic,” Reborn said with a smirk. “You know that, right?”

“Hazards of having them out long, they get a little weird.” Skull folded his arms. “I’m not doing it.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t know Flame seals. Your luck will have to hold with Shamal.”

Reborn stared at him. “How did you know –“

Skull arched a brow at him. “Just because I can turn off my hearing doesn’t mean I still can’t hear your loud student through walls, Reborn. Or you. I’ve gotten much better at sneaking around.”

“Hmm.” Reborn stared at him. “Who is that girl that is staying with you?”

Skull smiled softly. “My granddaughter,” he replied. “Kagome-chan is a brilliant student! I mean, she cannot use chakra, but she can use the miko energy that Shion had.” He clapped his hands together. “I’m thinking about going on a small vacation. Meet the family, y’know.”

“You’re going to leave me here, _alone?”_ Reborn’s shocked voice made Skull blink.

“Well, yeah,” he replied, his face forming a scowl. “There’s several reasons why we shouldn’t be near each other. This is one of them.” He tapped the obvious pacifier around his neck, in all its fucked-up gloriousness. “Another is… I’m not letting my family go by herself to people who barely seem to acknowledge that something terrible has happened to her.”

So saying, Skull whistled.

Oodaku’s tentacles yanked him from the room.

~:~

Reborn watched the car back out of the driveway. Slowly, the Sun Flame pacifier faded back into a dull yellow; when it did so, his phone chimed.

_You find him yet?_

Reborn once more glanced upwards at the vacant driveway.

_Namimori._

He hesitated for a moment. Skull wanted to be left alone; that was clear. None of them kept in any sort of regular contact, yet it seemed Lal’s uncanny ability to know something right as it happened allowed her to find his new number.

He deleted the text.

Better to send nothing right now than to think Skull was up to no good – he still needed to train his idiot student, after all.

He pocketed the phone.

~:~

Kagome hummed to herself as she sat on the porch. Her grandfather stepped up, holding a bag of pastries.

“I got some donuts.” He dropped the bag next to her; Kagome wrinkled her nose at the cigarette smoke that clung to Skull like a thick film.

“Did you have a smoke while you were out?”

“No. I don’t smoke every five minutes.”

“You smell.”

“I know.” He tapped his nose. “The scent of smoke – dulls my nose.”

Kagome hummed. “Why? Smelling –“

“If I didn’t have the smoke scent on me, I could smell from here to the middle school four miles away,” her grandfather interrupted. “Plus, I actually smoke to ease my nerves.”

“Please quit,” Kagome requested. “It reeks.”

Skull glanced at her. “I’ll try.”

At least he could promise that.

 “I…” Kagome hesitated. “I was wondering something. While I have been able to connect with Shion – she has been teaching me – I was wondering if you would come with me when I attempt to return to the past.”

She glanced at him briefly, then looked away.

“Sure.” She turned her head quickly to stare at him; Skull reached into the bag and pulled out a donut without looking at her. “I’ve never been five hundred years in the past! It should be fu –“

“I don’t think I can bring you, Grandfather.” She sweatdropped as he looked distraught. “Because I am a priestess – the Shikon priestess – and you are not. Simply, you are a shinobi without demonic or miko heritage –“

Skull snorted. “Hey, Kagome… You know I wear white concealer, right?”

Kagome frowned at him. “What has that got to do with –“

Skull spat on his hand. Kagome wrinkled her nose in disgust as he turned and wiped his spit on his face. Ew.

After a moment of rubbing and wiping the white concealer, tan skin showed itself. Spread across one cheek were three perfect lines; Kagome glanced at the other cheek and then looked at his eyes.

He closed them, grimacing as something like tears came out of his eyes. Kagome reached out with her miko energy, feeling –

Just as his eyes opened almost lazily, a surge in demonic essence pushed against her senses.

“I am the center point for nine chakra demons who can’t die, Kagome.”

His scarlet eyes stared at her clearly. More brilliant than Inuyasha’s when he was in demon form; Kagome got the feeling that Inuyasha and Sesshomaru wouldn’t stand a chance against Skull because of the one that stained his eyes red.

“That means I am part demon?” She didn’t judge demons like Sango and Miroku did (not that they had been doing so lately – at least before Kagome had left, anyway); she chose to think of them as equals, as humans.

Skull waved her question away. “I highly doubt it. I’m only considering myself part demon because one of them’s been with me my entire life. Except for when I was born, and that was – at most – an hour.”

Kagome bit her lip. “I’ve been told my miko powers are pure. How can that be if you had a demon inside of you when I was –“

“I don’t know,” Skull said, interrupting her. “I don’t know a lot about the repercussions about having children in this world.” He poofed into smoke, and his child form sat there, looking odd with scarlet eyes and half his makeup wiped away. “To be perfectly honest, before I was cursed I didn’t know ANYTHING about this world. Guess it was my own fault. Ah, well.”

“I can attempt to take you with me,” Kagome allowed. “You’re bringing your octopus, aren’t you?”

“Oodaku is bonded to me by more than the fact I rescued him from being chopped into itty-bitty pieces; he is Flame-bound to me.” Skull smiled at her. “Long story, but it’s how he’s lived as long as he has. He even has the ability to clone himself! His clones are like mine. Longer they’re out, the stupider they get.”

Kagome… Did not ask.


	5. Chapter 5

Kagome took a deep breath as she stepped into her school for the final exams. The break had been for two months; most people would think Kagome wouldn’t study.

She was gearing up for a possible future stuck in this world – that required her to study for her final exam.

“Hey! Kagome! You actually made it!”

Kagome felt a smile when she heard Ami’s voice. “Ami-chan!” she turned to her three friends – two of which froze and decided to stare at her weirdly. The third just looked sick. “Are you all right, Hikari-chan?”

“No,” Hikari said flatly. “My brother has deigned to become the facsimile of a god.”

Kagome, Ami, and Sayu all stared at Hikari.

“Your brother…”

“My brother,” Hikari agreed flatly. “Light. Now, can we ignore that and go on?”

If Kagome could help Hikari, she would. Fortunately, if she was right and Light was the man who was killing people accused of crimes… Right now, Light wasn’t on her list of ‘things to do’.

“Right.” Ami clearly didn’t believe her. “Why are you so cheery, Kagome? Last time we saw you, you broke up with –“

“Ah!” Kagome interrupted Ami. Hikari looked up, semi-interested. “I found… my cousin! He’s from Italy, so he wears lots of makeup. He dropped me off!”

“Is he single?” Ami looked eager.

“No,” Kagome said. “Plus, he has an octopus as a companion. He’s weird.”

“That hurts, cousin.”

Kagome turned, her eyes wide.

Skull smiled at her, flicking his cigarette. He looked… Normal. Kagome only knew it was Skull by the earring in his ear – a stud that had a skull and crossbones on it, with a metal bar hanging from it.

“It’s true, Skull. You are weird.”

“Eh. Hey, I’m going to hang around; I’m going to meet my dear aunt.”

“Not without me!” Kagome shook her head. “I haven’t even warned her about you!”

Skull waved his hand. “I was just messin’ with ya.”

Kagome cleared her throat. Her friends giggled as Kagome tugged Skull to the side.

“Look, I know you can be patient for another day. I am nervous. Just – just go hang around the mall and wait for me to call you.”

Skull nodded. “Gotcha, kiddo. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

She watched him jog off.

Kagome rolled her eyes after a moment.

~:~

Mrs. Higurashi was well-used to the supernatural in her life – from a time traveler from five hundred years ago to her own daughter being an exceptional priestess – but this…

This was weird. Seeing the man transform twice – once to a baby, then to an adult – the man who claimed to be Kagome’s grandfather on Hikari’s side… It was almost too much.

Until Souta came in.

When he came in, with similar looks to Kagome and Mrs. Higurashi herself, she recognized the shock in his eyes as one similar to Hikari’s when he’d seen Souta.

Naruto, as he called himself, smiled a little and hid it behind his cup.

The octopus that seemed at home outside the water crawled over to Souta and hugged him.

“Hikari had more children?”

Mrs. Higurashi glanced at Naruto.

“Yes,” she replied. “Once more, before he died. How come you never came into his life?”

Naruto flushed. “I – I have had a difficult time, in the past few years,” the man admitted, ducking his head. “I have been dealing with my curse for the past thirty years. Had I known I had had a son, I would have visited sooner. I didn’t visit in the past few years because I didn’t think he had a family until Kagome located me in Namimori.”

“I see.” Mrs. Higurashi let out a slow breath. “You’re training my daughter.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Was, yes,” Naruto replied. “She’s a fine warrior. In my world, I knew a fierce as hell woman who could crack open my skull at her age.” Mrs. Higurashi raised an eyebrow, silently doubting it. Catching her expression – though Mrs. Higurashi thought she’d hidden most of her skepticism – Naruto smirked. “I was put in the hospital twice during the war I was in due to a cracked skull, courtesy of my beloved teammate. Kagome doesn’t have chakra; her energy is the same as Shion’s, the previous owner of the pin. Shion was also a priestess.”

Mrs. Higurashi glanced at him. “How did she die?”

“Saving my life,” Naruto replied quietly.

~:~

“Sooo… what now? We just… jump down the well?”

Naruto eyed the well skeptically.

“I guess?” Kagome shrugged helplessly. “All I know is that it’s magical, it takes me through time and deposits me in the bottom of another well five hundred years in the past.”

“Well, damn. Guess that means I have to count my cigarettes.”

“No, it means you really should stop smoking. You will be in a pack of demons, as well as a perverted monk and a yokai taijiya.”

“I can’t wait to meet your friends,” Skull grinned.

Kagome groaned. “Please, Grandfather! Do not embarrass me.”

Skull rolled his eyes.

“I couldn’t embarrass you much,” he said with a sly grin.

Kagome rolled her eyes again and hefted the ugly yellow backpack. Skull had a small pack with the bare necessities; worse comes to worst, he could make a bonfire and knew what he could eat by the smell. Having alerted his demonic allies, he had a line extended to them in case of emergencies and enough of their chakra to last him for a few years if things went extremely sideways.

Kagome grabbed her grandfather. Somehow (probably through chakra), the octopus that was sitting on Skull’s shoulder was tiny; it was latched to him as though he were a leech.

Like clockwork, Skull’s body became tiny. Kagome kept a hold on him as she jumped into the well.

A tingle ran through her. Bright blue light shone around her.

A few seconds later, Kagome hit the bottom.

Taking a deep breath, she looked down at her grandfather. He was blinking in confusion, the acrid scent of smoke gone from him.

“Well, it’s definitely magical,” he said, his gaze going past Kagome. “I’m not sure if this is the right time.”

Kagome looked at the sides of the well.

A grin came upon her face.

“It is,” she assured her cursed grandfather. “Because the vines are here.”

~:~

Kaede was quite surprised to see Kagome striding into the village in even stranger clothes than she had worn before. Knowing the circumstances of her appearance, Kaede waved the exclamations of ‘demon’ down.

The child and octopus, however, were far newer. Kaede knew enough – had been a midwife to enough people – to know this child was not a child.

This child looked around with all the interest someone like Kagome was now doing. A traveler, a killer-for-hire – assessing threats and deeming people immediately ‘non-threatening’. When the younger priestess saw her, she smiled.

It wasn’t the usual smile Kagome gave her, full of life and happy – rather, this was reserved and careful.

Kaede saw the child’s gaze lock onto her and dismiss her as a threat after a moment’s scrutiny.

Kaede wasn’t pleased that this child could dismiss her so easily.

“Kaede-san,” Kagome said, bowing her head a little. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“It has been six months, Kagome,” Kaede replied. “No sign of Naraku, and your companions have recently passed through.”

Kaede didn’t believe that beating around the bush would help anything.

“How recently?” Kagome frowned.

Kaede blinked at the… thing perched on the tiny baby’s head.

“Two days,” Kaede replied after a moment.

“Do you have anything with their scent on it?” Kagome requested.

Kaede narrowed her eyes. “And you make this request of me, why?”

“Because of me!” the baby-man said in a chipper voice. “I’m good with my nose!”

“He has… He’s part demon, from my time,” Kagome said, not quite lying. Kaede lifted a brow. “It’s… complicated,” Kagome admitted, averting her eyes. “Suffice it to say that Skull can find anyone.”

“All in the nose, Kaede-san!” The purple-haired half-demon tapped his nose.

Kaede thought for a moment. “Ah, I do recall the young taijiya left her nose-mask,” she said after a moment. “A human’s scent is weaker than a demon’s; be very careful not to fall on the wrong path.”

The purple-haired man simply smiled and bowed his head. “As you speak, Kaede-san, I know you are right. However, this time period has far less scents for me to be distracted by.”

Kaede nodded, motioning the duo to her rooms.

“I would suggest you change, Kagome,” Kaede advised – turning, she blinked at the smoke. Standing behind Kagome was a purple-haired man – it was the baby. Suspicions confirmed, Kaede nodded to herself. “It is good you found yourself a male escort, though traveling during such tumultuous times is something even a couple should be wary of.”

“If we were two women traveling, would that be something strange?”

“Only if you seek to move through towns at a slow pace,” Kaede answered.

“What if we moved as two women, both in priestess uniforms?”

Kaede blinked. “They’re for women,” she said blankly. “Female priestesses. You do not have bre-“

Her words died as more smoke appeared. Now, a female version of the purplette stood in front of her, holding up the too-big clothes that sagged obviously on her.

“A priestess-in-training, then?” Kagome suggested.


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto tilted her head and turned, zeroing in on the scent. “Blood, three hours old. They started to fly here.”

Kagome sighed heavily.

“Now we’re stuck. I don’t think either of us can fly, so we’re fucked.”

“Oodaku, be ready to become big in case we fall.”

Kagome shrieked as her grandfather – grandmother, in this case? – picked her up, piggyback-style.

“YOU CAN FLY?!”

“I’ve done it before,” Naruto said with a smile at Kagome. “Just hold on, let’s hope I learned from that one time!”

“ONE TIME?!”

“Technically, it was three times! Once, I did it on accident. The second time Mrs. Jacques, that mean old bitch, called me something called the devil, and the third time I did it to save someone I’ve always wanted to sleep with!”

“I don’t think this is a GOOD IDEA! AAAAAAAHHHH!”

Kagome screamed as Naruto jumped into the air, slamming her eyes shut and clutching her tighter. Naruto laughed just as Kagome felt something wash over her senses.

“I’ll let you know when we’re close!”

Kagome did her best to relax. Hard, though, when she was probably thousands of feet up in the air with a woman about sixty pounds lighter than Kagome the only thing separating Kagome from a nasty death.

Yeah. Kagome was going to die, and it probably wouldn’t be a demon that killed her.

~:~

A polite knock sounded on the Sawada household.

Tsuna swallowed as he saw the amount of bodyguards on the lawn, but nobody actually standing where he could see them.

Opening the door, he closed his eyes in preparation for Reborn to do something.

“Ah,” a female voice said. “You must be the one I’m here to be an impartial judge for.”

Tsuna’s eyes shot open.

An older woman, about twenty years old – give or take a couple years – stood there with a smile on her face. Smooth dark hair fell to her waist, a tattoo under her left eye catching Tsuna’s eyes.

“I am Aria di Giglio Nero,” the woman continued smoothly, “and I am head of the Giglio Nero famiglia.” She held her hand out. “I am to make certain the Cervello famiglia remains completely impartial during this very trying time.”

“And how will you remain impartial, Aria-chan?” questioned Reborn.

Aria chuckled a little.

“Easily,” demurred the woman. “I am not my mother’s daughter.”

“Is anyone else coming?” questioned Reborn with his eyes narrowing.

“Mateo di Cielo Stellato,” Aria replied. “And possibly Dino di Chiavarone. I tend not to worry about them much.”

Tsuna felt… Something as Aria remained close to him. The warm Flame that seemed to invite him in, yet push him away. As though it was aware of its pull that made Tsuna want to be closer to her, and yet being careful not to coerce him into –

He felt coldness as Aria twitched.

“Forgive me,” Aria said, dipping her head. “I did not mean for my Sky Flames to try and Harmonize with yours, Tsunayoshi-san.”

“Everyone calls me Tsuna, Aria-san!” Tsuna bowed.

To his surprise, Aria bowed back with a smile.

~:~

Tsuna met Mateo Corona di Cielo Stellato, a typical American-esque mafioso who wore too many rings and was very rotund. His sister, on the other hand, was almost painfully bony and wore almost rags; Mariella Corona had a dour expression painted on her face like nothing surprised her.

Weeelll…

Actually, something screamed that Tsuna’s eyes needed checked or something, because his almost preternatural sense screamed that he needed to wash away the illusion –

Tsuna stopped eating.

“Are you two Mists?”

The dinner table went silent.

Both siblings moved, smirking at each other for a moment before the illusions collapsed.

Mariella was a woman who looked to be in her early thirties, Mateo possibly in his late thirties. Both had few wrinkles on their faces, but it was simply age. And possibly stress.

Instead of regular suits, Mateo was wearing casual clothes – a sweater that was tremendously ugly in the ‘ugly Christmas sweater’ category, with khaki slacks. Mariella wore a dark dress that seemed to suit her.

“Seriously, Mateo?” Mariella glared at the man. “You had to wear fratello’s sweater?”

“I thought I’d show him some appreciation!”

“For God’s sake, Mateo! He’s not even on the itinerary!”

“I like the damn sweater!”

Mariella scoffed. “You’re nearly sixty, fratello! You should act your age! It’s only August.”

“Screw you, Mariella.” Mateo turned to Tsuna, who remained gaping at them for a long moment. “I am not the true head of the Cielo Stellato, as Daniella will no doubt assure you when you meet her.”

Reborn’s tiny body tensed from where it was on Tsuna’s shoulder.

“Ottava is arriving?”

“Soon,” Mateo nodded. “I’ve heard tell Ottava is only staying alive to witness the next generation take place; not even Nono will defy her.”

Reborn hopped onto the table.

“Dame-Tsuna,” Reborn said, his voice void of emotion, “we’re going training.”

Tsuna didn’t let himself show fear. Fear is weakness, he reminded himself. These mafioso will kill me – or have me killed – if I show my weakness in front of them.

Warmth saturated the room.

“We’re looking forward to see what kind of training you’re giving him, Reborn,” Aria said, setting her teacup down and not meeting their eyes.

“You will not be watching, Aria di Giglio Nero.”

The words held some kind of warning.

Instead of feeling threatened, Aria simply stared at Reborn, a smile blooming across her face.

~:~

Reborn recalled, for a moment, the days before the curse. Skull had, at one point, begged Reborn to teach him how to use a gun.

When Reborn attempted to do so, Skull’s shooting was spot on.

“That was…” Skull had looked disturbed. “You do this without feeling anything?”

Reborn had arched a brow. “It’s business, not pleasure,” he had stated bluntly. “In the mafia world, you’d do anything to survive.”

“Were you born into it?”

Reborn shook his head. “I wasn’t in the best place when I became a hitman, but I did it because there was nothing else I could do. My Sun Flames makes it easier to aim.”

Skull was abnormally quiet.

“What about you?” Reborn returned. “Were you born into it?”

“I think I was,” Skull had admitted. “With my parents’ death, it was only natural. Orphans didn’t get a lot of choice, me even less so.”

“What if they’d lived?” Reborn had returned, posing a hypothetical he had wondered about himself.

Skull had laughed hollowly.

“Then it would have turned out the same,” Skull had responded. “Except, I wouldn’t have been executed. And I wouldn’t have met you.” He’d winked, Reborn had attempted to kill him.

Now, as Reborn watched Tsuna – he thought about Tsuna’s own… issues.

Clearly, someone had forced a Seal on him because of his Flames activating early. Doing something that damaging to a young Sky was forbidden. Some of the Seal was leaving, thanks to the Dying Will Bullets, but Reborn only had a limited number of those; he was quickly running out.

He glanced towards the house as he halfheartedly threw a grenade towards Tsuna.

The subject of Sky Flames brought up another question.

Aria had emphasized that she was not her mother’s daughter, indicating she thought herself nothing like her mother.

If that was true…

~:~

Aria felt Reborn’s Flames approaching, her Sky Flames fanning out in order to keep herself apprised of the situation.

When Reborn slammed the door open, Aria simply turned a page of her father’s journal.

“What are you doing in Skull’s home?”

“Did he not tell you?” Aria mused, inwardly smirking. “Did you know I grew up in Paris? My father was constantly away on business, you see, though nobody saw him an unfit father. A circus stuntman, he was, and very fond of the color purple.”

She slammed the journal shut.

“So, you see…” She gazed up at him. “I share more attributes with the one who hated my mother with the fury of a Raging Cloud.”

A Raging Element was bad news. A Raging Cloud was worse.

“How did Skull become your father?”

Aria’s eyes glanced to the side.

“His cousin traveled from his world,” Aria began, “and murdered my mother after taking me from my crib. Padre was devastated to learn what his cousin had done, but he did not regret raising me. I think padre did rather well.”

Her smile didn’t fade as she glanced back at Reborn.

“He raised me until I was fifteen,” she told him. “I left not long after that, to take the place I needed to. Now, I must observe Tsuna and be an objective viewer.” She hesitated. “I do not have any vested interest, truth be told; however, know that these Ring Battles are in vain.”

Reborn’s child eyes narrowed.

Aria’s eyes turned to the wall. “Xanxus di Vongola holds no interest in seeing himself upon the Vongola throne; he will find what he is missing when it is time for the Mist to appear.”

Aria glanced back at Reborn, an affable smile on her face.

“Do you understand what I speak of, Reborn?”

Reborn nodded. “I do, Aria di Giglio Nero. Skull is not here, though.”

Aria waved her hand. “The sands of time cannot stand between blood,” Aria stated firmly. “Besides, the Mist in question already knows the truth, though one cannot help their own nature. The Mist will be the hardest to catch.”


	7. Chapter 7

Inuyasha was about to break camp when Shippo squeaked in sudden fear at the feeling of a far more ancient yokai aura coming towards them from the air.

Preparing his claws – his sword hadn’t worked correctly since he’d unceremoniously threw Kagome down the well when Naraku had tried to kill them all – he stood and awaited the arrival of whatever fear that Shippo was currently trying to hide.

Kirara mewled, burning into her more battle-ready form.

A loud scream hit their ears, distantly at first – then loud. Two figures dropped from the sky.

“Ojii-san, you nearly killed me!” shouted a very familiar voice. Smoke poofed around the one who should be dead.

“Well, I told you the landing wasn’t going to be perfect!” a loud, high-pitched voice yelled. “The Great Skull-sama tells no lies!”

“And yet,” Kagome said, her hand reaching into the dissipating smoke and dragging out a purple-clad, baby figure with a cursed object on him, “that is the biggest lie I’ve heard all month!”

The baby scoffed as he was settled onto her shoulder.

“Oi, Oodaku! You all right?”

Tentacles flew out of the ground.

“What the hell?!” Inuyasha finally shouted as a thing wiggled from beneath the ground.

The thing, Oodaku or whatever, turned into a tiny thing and jumped onto the purple baby.

Shippo was still trembling in fear.

“Oh, hey,” the purple guy said after a moment. “We’re here. Kagome, you never said you had nekomata and kitsunes here!”

“There’s kitsunes and nekomata here,” Kagome said in a tone Inuyasha had never heard the priestess-in-training use before. “Inuyasha.” Her voice was chilled to the bone. “This is my grandfather. You try anything like that stunt you pulled before…” Inuyasha gulped as Kagome’s eyes met his. “I’ll purify your ass, no hesitation.”

Sango and Miroku gaped at her.

“Wait a second! You can’t be Kagome! You’re too –“

He reached to touch her shoulder, only to freeze as red eyes stared at him. Demonic yokai stronger than his father’s pressed down upon him.

“Touch my granddaughter again,” the purple-clad child hissed with elongated canines, “and I’ll kill you.”

Inuyasha reared back instinctively.

Curiously, his demon instincts of pack that claimed Kagome as part of said pack didn’t rear up in the presence of the baby’s threat. Only a natural urge to try to claim the top spot as alpha reared, but that was before the threat had been issued.

Inuyasha could feel it. The cursed one with the thing on his back was only a threat to those who tried to harm Kagome.

He could live with that.

But what he wondered was why Kirara was staring at Kagome like she was a marvel or something, or why Shippo was no longer frightened of the aura.

What he didn’t know was Kirara was actually staring at the baby-man because she could feel the ancient – the first – Nekomata inside the baby-man. And, well – Shippo wasn’t afraid of the aura because, hello? Kyuubi. The Nine-Tailed Kitsune was a legend, after all.

~:~

“Did you really mean what you said to Inuyasha?” Sango washed her clothes out in the river as Kagome bathed.

Kagome sighed.

“He tossed me, against my will, back to my time,” she said, anger in her tone. “I was ready to defeat Naraku then, and I’m even more ready now.”

She slipped out of the lake.

“We’re going to need everyone, though,” she added after a moment to Sango. “Kouga, Sesshomaru – if we’re to defeat Naraku, we can’t be scattered and fighting on a whim. Each of us has to come together to fight.”

She withdrew the clear vial that, instead of holding a jewel that looked to be nearly complete, a pile of jewel shards lay in it.

“And for this to happen, I think we need to use Naraku’s plan.”

“Use the jewel shards?” Sango looked shocked. “But – the jewel –“

“If Naraku dies, so does the last threat,” Kagome said. “I’m not even sure I should do this. I can’t risk Naraku taking them.”

She sighed and put new clothes on. Sango took her clothes from the river, intending to use Hiraikotsu to dry them.

When they reached the campsite, they were greeted with a sulky-looking Inuyasha, a young woman dressed as a priestess with the purple hair and eyes of the baby-man, and a shocked-looking Miroku. Shippo looked amused, a smirk on his face as he sat in the priestess’ lap.

“Grandmother,” Kagome nodded, the word coming out slightly awkward. “Why are you –“

“I felt like it,” sniffed the one Kagome called her ancestor. Sango… Sango really didn’t see the resemblance.

The woman brushed her eyes. Blue eyes were revealed.

“My contacts are ruined. I really need to stop making my eyes all demonic-y. I either melt them or I can see them.”

Sango just edged away from the weirdo, choosing to hunker down next to Miroku – even if he planted a hand on her after she set down.

The camp was lively once more as Sango slapped Miroku.

~:~

The first time they ran into demons, those demons were low-level. Kagome took care of them easily, fighting with one of her grandfather’s old weapons, a dagger-like weapon with his old village’s symbol on it. It was easy to kill them – however, what wasn’t easy came next.

They had just finished disposing of the ones that Kagome hadn’t killed when a piece of paper fluttered in front of them, ink on its surface.

Kagome never saw her grandfather move. In an instant, the paper was being plastered on his chest, the explosion none of them expecting lighting the world.

Kagome found herself protected by her grandfather. She was pressed onto the ground, her grandfather’s eyes blazing red, a barrier of red chakra flowing from him.

Before she could say ‘thanks’, her grandfather turned and assumed a ‘ready to kill’ position.

“State your name and affiliation, shinobi!”

His sharp words caused her to stare at him.

A woman moved from the woods, red hair done in an elegant bun. A paintbrush dangled from her fingers, an aloof mask on her face.

“You dare to speak in such a manner to me, the heiress of the Uzumaki?” the woman questioned.

All of her grandfather’s bravado drained from him.

“Uzumaki?” he breathed. “How –“

The woman moved.

“Wait!” Her grandfather held up his hands. “I – I’m an Uzumaki!”

“That is impossible,” sneered the woman.

“No, it isn’t,” refuted her grandfather. “You – you have an Emperor, right?”

The woman hesitated.

“And you’re from Uzushiogakure,” he went on. “I never imagined I’d ever meet a true member of my clan.”

The woman narrowed her eyes.

“Fool. Only the Uzumaki have the ability to travel betwixt these worlds; you do not have the power.”

Naruto slid his hand in his pocket. The woman pressed her inkbrush to her paper.

Kagome watched her grandfather bring out his mirror.

“I am Uzumaki Naruto, affiliated with nobody,” he said clearly. “I have travelled here with my granddaughter. We are both from five hundred years in the future.”

He gestured to Kagome, who at once felt kind of embarrassed to not be wearing the standard miko-wear.

“She is the Shikon Priestess,” Naruto went on, opening the mirror. “This is the sealed state of my mirror.”

The woman padded forward even more.

~:~

“So, you are from this world’s future.” Uzumaki Kira had seen things to make this believable. “I see. So why are you unaffiliated with the Emperor of Yosu Kuni?”

“The Emperor is dead in my time,” the purplette said candidly as they sat, away from the main group. The Shikon Priestess seemed rather annoyed by her casual acceptance of time travel. “We have ‘lords of the land’, though they’re really awful at doing their fucking jobs.”

Kira hummed. “And, pray tell, do I sense Kyuubi on you?”

“Oh, because I’m a human sacrifice,” Naruto answered bluntly. “Like my mother, an Uzumaki.”

“So you have spoken an untruth! You have met an Uzumaki!”

“No,” the future one replied in a deadpan. “She died the night I was born. My father did, too, performing a seal you Uzumaki made.”

“No seal can be used by anyone other than an Uzumaki, young one,” Kira scolded.

“Well, then, my dad made it better.”

“I must express my disbelief,” Kira replied. None, especially not her Shiki Fujin, could be used by anyone who wasn’t an Uzumaki. “If I might ask, what seal was it?”

She would like to know the idiot who tried to use –

“Ah, something like Shiki Fujin.”

Kira stood. “You speak a lie! My seal could not be –“

He stood, his expression carved from marble. He lifted his shirt.

Bold lines, similar but different, were painted on his skin. Kira could not understand them in the time she was given, for as she reached out –

His hands were on hers. Unscarred, uncalloused – but strong and unwavering. He did not trust her.

Kira still itched to touch it, to learn the secrets someone else had uncovered. As a seal master on the Council of Uzushio, ear to the Lord of the Uzumaki, he deserved to hear something such as this.

She removed herself from his vicinity, watching as he let his shirt down.

“Your seal, hm?”

She found herself the object of emotionless eyes.

“I guess I have you to thank, then.”


End file.
